extravagance
(ɛkˈstrævəgəns)
[a. Fr. extravagance, f. late L. extravagant-em: see extravagant and -ance.]
† 1. A going out of the usual path; an excursion, digression. Also, the position or fact of erring from (a prescribed path). lit. and fig. Obs.
| 1643 Milton Divorce ii. vii. (1851) 80 A doctrine of that extravagance from the sage principles of piety. 1645 Hammond Pract. Catech. 11, I have troubled you too farre by this extravagance: I shall make no delay to recall my selfe into the rode againe. a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks., Life (1660) 15 Sollicited me for my Company in a Journey..to the Spa..laying before me..the Benefit of that small Extravagance. |
2. The quality of being extravagant or of exceeding just or prescribed limits, esp. those of decorum, probability, or truth; unrestrained excess; fantastic absurdity (of opinions, conduct, etc.); outrageous exaggeration or violence (of language).
| 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode iii. ii, L. Town. Here's the freshest Fool in Town..Dor. Sooth him up in his extravagance! 1681 Dryden Sp. Fryar Ep. Ded. 2 Some Verses of my own, Maximin and Almanzor, cry Vengeance upon me for their Extravagance. 1716–8 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xxxvii. 144 You will accuse me of extravagance in this description. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. ii. iv. 207 The extravagance of the Braminical chronology and geography. 1864 J. H. Newman Apol. 392 Not to enfeeble the freedom or vigour of human thought in religious speculation, but to resist and control its extravagance. |
3. An instance or kind of extravagance; an extravagant notion, statement, piece of conduct, etc.; an irrational excess, an absurdity.
| 1650 Fuller Pisgah v. i. 143 Many maps are full of affected extravagances. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 71 So Men, who one Extravagance would shun, Into the contrary Extreme have run. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. i. 18 An excess of joy..has a thousand extravagances in it. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. i. 69 Later writers..did not follow Hilary in this extravagance. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (ed. 3) I. 80 The extravagances of ignorance and credulity. 1857 Keble Eucharist. Adorat. 1 Had there been no abuse, error or extravagance connected with the practice. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 181 Impatient of the extravagances to which the love of truth almost necessarily leads. |
4. Excessive prodigality or wastefulness in expenditure, household management, etc.
| 1727 Arbuthnot Coins ii. v. 133 They [the Romans] arrived by degrees to an incredible extravagance. 1805 Foster Ess. i. iii. 35 Extravagance of ostentatious wealth. 1817 M. Edgeworth Rose, Thistle, etc. ii. ii, Such extravagance, to give a penny, and a silver penny, for what you may have for nothing. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. iii, I can't support them in their extravagances. 1873 Black Pr. Thule (1874) 16 Do you think I would take the child to London to show her its extravagance. Mod. The cook's extravagance was too much for me. |